When a friend mentioned an interest in one day taking up fencing in the over-80 age category, it piqued my interest in a sport that I know very little about.
I found evidence of these rumored senior citizen fencers in Australia, where retired nuns and priests train and compete at the Corpus Christi Catholic Home in Melbourne. I gotta admit, I'm impressed by people who defy the image of athletics as a youthful endeavor for able-bodied people.
Equally impressive is the sport of wheelchair fencing. The International Wheelchair Fencing Committee provides some information about the sport, which appeared at Paralympic Games last summer. Athletes compete in wheelchairs that are actually fastened to the floor. This takes away the advantage of sneaky footwork, and emphasizes upper body speed and skill.
I found a short video segment by the New York Times covering paralympic fencers in Iraq. These admirable athletes must overcome obstacles of physical disability, nation-wide violence, political instability, poverty, and sub-par training facilities in order to fence. Really fascinating stuff...
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